Tales of the Zombie #7, CGC 9.4: This one came in yesterday. I bought it on auction through eBay. I got it at a fair price and I'm so happy to add it to my TOTZ collection. A gruesome cover, keeping in line with the TOTZ theme... I just love the look and feel of its retroness... like a horror movie poster from the 50's or 60's. The thick scarlet running down the dagger's blade and the collected pool of blood on the tree stump draws me in first... then the Zombie's freaky pupil-less orbs... and then I soak in the whole image of each character and their expressions of horror and surprise. And then I realize the Zombie looks stiff... as he should be... like a slow moving creature fighting through rigor mortis. And then I notice the moon-lit back ground... and it magically takes me into the Louisiana bayou... or the sub-tropic jungles of Haiti... or some dark misbegotten place where Voodoo Magic reigns supreme! The cover is a supernatural classic! But ask yourself... who's the brilliant artist? His name is Earl Norem.

Earl Norem... one of my all-time favorite cover artists who probably fits in with traditional "classical fantasy school of artists" heralded by the late great Kelly Freas, whose influences probably harkens even further back to the great American Master: Norman Rockwell. For any reader unfamiliar with Kelly Freas or Norman Rockwell... Google Image search and begin the journey of fascination and love for these long-forgotten masters. While you're at it... please do the same for Earl Norem!

I first fell in love with Earl Norem's brilliant talents with the cover of Savage Sword of Conan #78. That 1982 issue was my first introduction to the world of Robert E. Howard and Conan, not to mention Marvel's sensational black & white magazine line. Earl Norem's photo-realistic painting depicted a thick bronze-skinned Conan, with sword in-hand, defending a beautiful lass at his feet, from a gigantic Yeti-like creature (that makes the Wendigo look like a p*ssy!), on a snow-swept mountain, while another, weaker warrior in the back-drop, looks-on in horror.

I can't say enough about Earl Norem... he got me into Conan and Tales of the Zombie, but he's also a hero in his own right! He bravely served his country in World War II. Here's an excerpt appearing in an all too-brief article from wikipedia:

"Norem saw military action in World War II with the 85th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. He trained in Colorado and Texas, and fought the Germans in the Northern Apennine Mountains of Italy. By age 20, Norem was a squad leader and staff sergeant who in the Italian Campaign fought alongside famed skier Torger Tokle, whom he had seen ski jumping at Bear Mountain, New York when Norem was 12. Upon Torkle's battlefield death on March 3, 1945, Norem was one of the men assigned to retrieve his body from the mountain. Norem himself later was wounded going into the Po Valley, ending his military stint."

After serving his country, Norem became an illustrator... a commerical artist with a ton of work for magazines, comics, and toys. Now retired due to the debilitating scorge of arthritis, it has been quoted in an interview from 2005: "All the contacts that I had in the commercial art field are either retired or dead, and the younger art buyers don't want anything to do with an 81-year-old artist."

That's so f*cking sad... it chokes me up! The man had so much to do with my love of comics. Whenever I saw a Norem cover I relished and cherished it like it was gold! He's up there in my book with the greats: Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Kelly Freas, Joe Jusko, Bob Larkin, and a slew of others. If you're an art lover, you could literally spend hours studying the rich textures and details of his works.

I hope I'm not coming across as preachy... but from one fan of fantasy art to another... look into his works... they're fantastic. The man is 88 now... I can imagine he's just sitting in a nursing home, wasting away and collecting dust, while no one pays no mind or gives a mess! Two years ago, when my 90-year old father did a stint in a nursing home due to a broken ankle needing rehab, I saw first-hand so many elderly people just cast-off and left for dead by their own relatives. I saw these people, shadows of their former selves... just sitting and waiting hopelessly for a merciful death that never comes. It f*cking sad and it s*cks! Life should be about so much more!

Earl Norem... wherever you are... I will always remember you! Thanks for making my life so extra special! Thanks for making brilliant art... for making me escape from the dull and banal world... I will cherish those memories... forever!

SW3D

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